Utility Suspends Nuclear Plant Effort

[bananas]

Source: New York Times

A utility in Missouri said Thursday that it was suspending its efforts to build a new nuclear reactor, making its proposed plant, Callaway 2, the first of the so-called nuclear renaissance reactors to fall by the wayside.

The industry has been looking forward to its first construction start in 30 years. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 17 companies have filed applications to build 26 reactors.

The utility, AmerenUE, planned to build a reactor near Fulton, Mo., but was seeking changes in the state law governing the financing of new power plants. In a letter on Thursday, it asked the sponsors of a law now moving through the state legislature to withdraw the measure.

AmerenUE wanted to be allowed to charge its customers for financing costs before the plant was finished.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/business/energy-environment/24nuclear.html

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Actually, this is the second, the first was last year:

NIRS Statement on Cancellation of Idaho Nuclear Reactor

January 28, 2008

TAKOMA PARK, MARYLAND - January 28 - Today, MidAmerican Nuclear Energy Company announced that it is cancelling its plans to build a new nuclear reactor in Payette County, Idaho.

The company cited the poor economics of nuclear power for its decision, saying that its “due diligence process has led to the conclusion that it does not make economic sense to pursue the project at this time.”

MidAmerican was planning on Warren Buffett’s Berkshire/Hathaway company to provide major financing for the project. Buffett is a major owner of MidAmerican.

Which leads NIRS to the obvious conclusion: if Warren Buffett cannot figure out how to make money from a new nuclear reactor, who can?

“This cancellation is the first of the new nuclear era,” said Michael Mariotte, executive director of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, “but it won’t be the last. Even before any new nuclear construction has begun in the U.S., cost estimates have skyrocketed and are now 300-400% higher than the industry was saying just two or three years ago.”

“The extraordinary costs of nuclear power, coupled with its irresolvable safety and radioactive waste problems, killed the first generation of reactors, and are going to end this second generation as well. But it would be tragedy if the U.S. wasted any money on new reactors, when resources are so desperately needed to implement the safer, cheaper, faster, and sustainable energy sources needed to address the climate crisis,” Mariotte added.

[Atman]

1. Woo hoo! I worked on part of the anti-Calloway2 campaign!

I love my job. It's great to get to see actual, tangible results from the work I do.

.

[DaLittle Kitty]

5. Kick & Recommend, Then COPY & PASTE... Elsewhere! Watch Russell Call OUt NRC Cryatal River!

We must stop this nightmare!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPKxz3dVDq4

[wordpix]

6. congratulations from Washington, DC! woot!

[MadHound]

2. Great news, we don't need another nuclear plant in central Missouri,

Hell, we don't need another nuclear plant anywhere in the US. Now is the time to start putting up solar and wind.

[mbperrin]

3. Good news, indeed!

Yes, on with the solar and wind apps!

[jpak]

4. Bye bye Nucular Renaissance!

:rofl:

[wordpix]

7. and don't let the nuclear waste runoff as you head out the door

:rofl:

[Terran]

8. That bill was such a crock of shit!

A for-profit company, Ameren UE, wanted to pass the cost of creating new infrastructure onto its customers, a captive audience as it were, *as it was being built*! I can't imagine how they thought such a bogus plan was going to succeed. Kudos (for ONCE) to my state legislature for scuttling this massive scam.

[struggle4progress]

16. CWIP bill died from a lack of candor

04/26/2009

... AmerenUE spent much of the last year, including the first four months of the Missouri Legislature's session, arguing that building a second nuclear plant in Callaway County — estimated to cost $9 billion — would be too expensive without up-front financing from ratepayers.

Repealing Missouri's anti-CWIP law is a necessary precondition, the company said. Senate Bill 228 would have done just that.

But on April 15, key advocacy groups, including those representing large industrial customers, told AmerenUE they would support CWIP repeal as long as consumer protections stayed in place. Other groups offered similar deals so that the utility could begin recovering its costs immediately.

AmerenUE turned those offers down flat ... http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/CBB8AF556A884373862575A2007B49B4?OpenDocument

[stlsaxman]

9. yeah the nerve- wanting us to pay for it BEFORE it was built.

Glad our representatives had the sense to vote it down!

:woohoo:

[jtrockville]

10. YOU take the risk, WE take the profit.

What's not to like?
:sarcasm:

[jpak]

11. Yup - but repugs let Florida utilities do just that.

morans

[Laelth]

14. Georgia did the same.

Ratepayers here are paying, in advance, for the costs of a new nuclear reactor.

:dem:

-Laelth

[bertman]

12. This is great news. I was briefly swayed toward the use of nuke plants by one of the

founders of Greenpeace, Patrick Moore, who was touting the almost zero carbon emissions, the better safety record of so many existing nuke plants, and the "possibility" of recycling higher-grade nuclear wastes in various types of applications that are being worked on by the Germans and Japanese primarily.

BUT, I keep going back to the cost, the fact that they are UNINSURABLE, and last, but not least, the way the industry and our government have covered up so many safety violations and the human cost of radiation leaks and accidents.

For an excellent piece on recently released information regarding the Three Mile Island disaster 30 years ago please check out this article http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A393821

Massive public education regarding energy conservation and recycling would be an immediately effective way to reduce our need for energy while we ramp up our use of alternative, sustainable, and environmentally-friendly energy sources. We need to keep the pressure on the Obama administration to sponsor this new awareness. It's not all about programs. It's also a matter of consciousness on the part of every citizen.

Thanks for the OP, bananas.

Recommend.

[RayOfHope]

13. Yea! As a long time (former) Callaway County resident, this was not easy

as the current plant is a major employer and one of the local school district gets loads of $$$. Ameren is so full of shit.

[struggle4progress]

15. Ameren Halts Plans To Build New Nuclear Reactor In Missouri

... Missouri law prevents utilities from raising electric rates to pay for new power plants until the plants are operational. Because nuclear plants costs billions of dollars to build, financing such projects is difficult unless utilities can recover costs ahead of time.

A bill in the Missouri legislature would have provided a mechanism for such cost recovery, but the latest version of the legislation "strips the legislation of the very provisions we needed most to move forward," said Thomas Voss, chief executive of Ameren utility AmerenUE, in a prepared statement.

"A large plant would be difficult to finance under the best of conditions, but in today's credit constrained markets, without supportive state energy policies, we believe getting financial backing for these projects is impossible," Voss said ...

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200904231326DOWJONESDJONLINE000921_FORTUNE5.htm